Farewell

I've taken some time to think this through and decided to stop blogging. I'm not getting out of it as much as I did when I first started and my life has changed, not for the worse or better, just changed, as things do.

I will continue to try and be as frugal as I can and also encourge my family to do so. I also want to reduce the plastic that comes into our home and possibly out too.

I will also continue to read and comment on my favorite blogs too.

I would like to thank those that have read my rambles, over the few years I've been blogging, and took the time to comment. It was fun whilst it lasted and, who knows,  maybe one day I might come back.

Have fun and stay safe and farwell

Carolx

Flaming June....

....hasn't it just. I can't say that I'm enjoying this heat one bit. It's too hot. But to have continous sunshine is pretty unsual for us so we shouldn't complain as all to soon it will be winter and we will be complaing it's cold.

I'm a bit late posting about our June adventures as I've been planning our trip to wales, which is where we are now. I'm on my own today as Martin and Laura have gone to walk up the mountain. This will be Laura's first big walk after her spinal surgery two and half years ago. We are staying in a lovely, peacful cabin with a hot tub and poor internet connections. Update - They made it to the top and back down again. The walk took longer than anticipated but came back safe had a very late tea and then enjoyed the hot tub before going to bed.

June started off fairly quite with us watching our local gala parade and then the crowning afterwards. The new queen and princess are sisters and the queen was a Lady in Waiting to Laura when she was queen.  Sorry no pictures of the parade. As part of the gala celebrations there was a garden competition to celebrate either The Suffragets or the End of WW1. I opted for the End of WW1. I had three tomato plants growing in pots so I moved them to the front and placed them into the boarder so they blened with the other plants. I also included a bucket of carrots. (Those carrots have not been a success. They tried turning to seed way to early and are still tiny and very woody) I made a lovely herb pot to sit by the front the door. This contained a small bay tree with sage, thyme, parsley and rosemary. (before the summer ends I will repot, individually, the thyme, rosemary and sage. Also moved to the front garden (in pots) was a Blueberry bush and a trough of strawberry plants. In a planter, that lives at the front, with mini daffodils, I planted it up with some peas, at the back, and lettus at the front. I made some plastic bottle bottoms to represent poppies and fixed them on to the fence and the hung bunting around the garden. It looked very festive but I didn't win. All the pots have now been returned to the back garden but I've left the the poppies in place as I like them.

Martin and I went to Lytham Club day, the following weekend to watch their parade. This one is always well attended by particpants and supporters. We were going to go and support Fleetwood Carnival the week before but it was raining. The one and only day in June it rained it had to be on a gala/carnival day. 


Last summer Martin made a new back gate from recycled plastic from an old shed that was lying around in dad's garden after he'd dismantled the shed a few years

before (he didn't like to throw anything out). The plastic was not looking that good so Laura and I talked about painting it. But, we had to used the paint that we already had and this is the result. The paint we used is emulsion and there was still loads left.
Rather colourful. I had dad's wooden garden furniture and the table had spent most of the winter outside and was in need of restaining/painting. We bought some fence paint that is guarenteed for 5 years. We painted the legs and the frame of the table and Laura did the rest.

It now matches the gate. Our next plan is tackle the Summer house. I will do the frame work with the fence paint and Laura will do the rest. pictures to follow when it's done. You'll be wondering if Martin had much say in all this, well............. not much. but he can live with it. We won't be doing the chairs or the garden fence to match, that would be just too much.

I finally finished these squares and stitched them together for a blanket for Laura. I still have to put a boarder on it yet. The colours are yet to be decided. I'm thinking grey and white. You may be wondering what the symbols mean. They are runes from a Laura's much read serise of books about shadow hunters by Cassandra Clare, a a youg adult auther.

During Laura's first year at college one of her subjects was fish husbandry. She learnt quite a lot and decided she would like a go at keeping fish. In the attick was a small tank from our previous attempts at keeping fish. Martin got it down and helped Laura to set it up and we got a couple of fish. In the meantime four more fish were added and the gold fish was getting bigger and back in May we replaced the small tank for a bigger one. A much bigger one. Laura then wanted some more fish as the tank was looking a bit empty (still does). We went along one of the aquatics shops near us to see what they had. They had the cutest little turtles, but we didn't get them.

I lost internet for a while but I'm back.  Where was I? Oh yes...   We did't get any turtles as our tank just isn't suitable.  Laura picked a couple of little shark looking fish.  As I was paying for the fish The retail manager was chatting to Laura and asking what she was doining at collage. She told him him Animal Management and about the fish husbandry course and how she got distinctions on her course work so he asked her to submit her CV and a covering letter as they had a vacancy. We took the fish home and she worked on her CV and covering letter. This was a saturday and on Monday morning she took in her CV and letter and on the following Thursday she was offered the job. It's full time and she started the weekend before she finished college. She is the only girl working with 4 lads on the shop floor. There are other staff (male) who work in the warehouse, at the back, who deal with internet orders. She has enjoyed her first week. Laura has been so lucky to find a full time job in the industry for which she has been trained and so quickly. It's not her career choice as eventually she would like to work for the RSPCA, but what a fantastic start we are so proud of her. She is not a girl who likes to out spending so now plans to save her wages so she can have driving lessons and buy a little car and insure it.

Since the fire has been burning on Saddleworth Moor there have been others. One on Winter Hill, that was still burning, on Tuesday, when we passed, on the motorway. Luckily some one has been arrested for that one. Two in Lytham which is about 16 miles away from where we live but the smell, after it was put out, drifted on the wind and we could smell it. I think these may have been accidents caused by bbqs. I saw some pictures on facebook that two fires were started deliberatly not too far from home but were put out fairly quickly and yesterday I read that there were three in North Wales. What is wrong with people? Firemen have enough to do without clearing up after them and they have had to use some water from the reservoirs which are getting low due to this lovely weather.  Ok rant over.

Let Julys adventures continue.

Carolx

Busy May

The weather has been glourious this month, almost wall to wall sunshine. Some say it will last all summer. We'll have to wait and see.

Laura was working at the local RSPCA centre (as a volunteer) on the first bank holiday monday and at lunch time we picked her up and had a picnic at Knott End . These are the views of Fleetwood.

We went to the Scorton Bike and Barrow festival. Scorton is a small village but the community come together for this event and out do themselves every year with their displays which includes some scarecrows. I didn't take many photos but this one I loved of Peter Rabbit and Mr McGregor's garden. We ended the day at a pub beside the canal at Garstang.

Two weeks  ago we attended Martin's great great neice's Christening. It was a lovely service in an old church in Bispham and was followed by a celebration at North Shore Golf Club. The view from the huge windows of the function room were magnificent. The building in the back ground is the old Miners Convelecant Home which was sold off several years ago and turned into allartments. The builders, before they started the renovations, opened up a lot of the building for public viewing along with the plans for the renovations. It was beautiful inside, very grand. I understand that the builders were very sympathetic in their renovations and tried to keep as much of the original features as possible. Just beyond the building is the sea

Laura had a day off college and we went up to the river for a little walk and a cold drink at the cafe. As were were sat having our drinks we watch a Robin visit the table next to us. We also took a look and mum and dad's trees. I was worried that one of them might not survive. However they are growing very well and one even has some flowers on it too.

I've been making some plastic bottle bottom poppies for a little garden display.  I decided to go in for a little competition, set by the local gala, (our gala is on 10th June). There are two themes to choose from. The Suffregettes or the End of WW1. I picked the End of WW1. We have a small raised boarder in the front that has lots of spring flowers but not so many summer ones (working progress each year). So what I've done is grow some veggies, not many, in pots and will place some of them in the gaps in the boarder and others around the wall and fence.  It was a bit late in the season, when the competition was announced,to grow the plant from seed so I bought  some. Only what we would use. I will show pictures of the garden when it's complete. Today I'm moving the post in position (I hope they don't get pinched) and tomorrow I will put out some bunting. There are a few more poppies to put out which Martin helps with that. Judging is between the 1st and 9th June and the winner will be announce at the Gala Queen and Princess crowning event on 10th. This Saturday is Poulton gala.

My red current bush is so heavy with fruit if fell over. Luckily it is next to a tree so between us we've managed to strap it up using the tree trunk. I think it may have to come out as it did the same thing the year before last. 

In between all this I've been invigilating for the GCSE's at school.. 

Thank you for dropping by and reading my rambles

Carolx

1st May. What ever happened to April?

I'm thinking back to what I did during April. I started to tidy up the garden, a little bit each day when it's not raining and we had a lovely afternoon out. We (the 3 of us) went out for lunch the other weekend when the sun was shining and it was lovely and warm. We went to a pub in Garstang and sat by the canal (a few boats were moving about). The food was delicious and the glass of cider was refreshing. Afterwards we went to the very expensive garden centre, Barton Grange. We had a look at all the lovely displays but didn't bother to look at the prices as we had no intention of buying

       

The toadstools and bees are some kind of metal and that corner was a little too colourful. The crocheted dreamcatchers reminded me of jellyfish. I think they came to mind after visiting the seaside display. I do like the hanging seagulls. Much nicer than the ones that c@*ped all over my car windscreen yesterday after next door had fed them grrrrr.

I like this sign but we have more spring flowers than either of our neighbours.

Matin and Laura took rather a liking to this bear  

Ladies you will never see these on display at this garden centre as these are the gents urinals. I really don't know what to think about the Lilly. Please note that I didn't venture into the gents to take the photos. Martin did that and waited until  it was empty.

May has started with some lovely sunshine I hope its here to stay, for a while anyway.

Carolx

No Snow for us this March

Hope you all had a good Easter break and didn't get too many jokes played on you on Easter day.

March was a funny old month it started with the Beast from the East 1, when every where was covered in snow. Kids and some workers got snow days, some people got stuck, a baby was born (in the snow). We woke up to an inch or two and by the afternoon it was gone but it was so very cold. I just could not get warm, I even got my old jumpers out and still I was cold.  A week later it felt like spring was finally on it's way and it was just a tiny

 bit warmer. Laura and I took ourselves off for a lovely walk on the beach. It was so nice to get out in the fresh air and blow a few cobwebs away. That BftE was a bit persistant when it came back twice more. We still didnt see much snow. the odd flake that was all.

A few weeks before the BftE1 arrived I'd arranged a family get together to plant two trees in honour of our mum and dad. We planted them at the local nature reserve with the help of the warden and then scattered their ashes. Afterwards we went for a nice meal and gave a toast to mum and dad. They have a lovely veiw.


Mother's day was a nice day and Laura bought me some really nice flower bulbs for the garden that will come up each year. It was such a lovely idea. Cost about the same as a bunch of flowers but last much longer. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up a little more before planting them out.

Even though Laura is 18 she still attends a dance class each week. She loves it and as there is no upper age limit she wants to stay as long as she can.  The week-end before last was the annual dance show to showcase the different styles they do. Usually the show is held in Middleton which for us that have to travel makes it a long day. However this year it was held at the Marine Hall in Fleetwood.  Every year I'm asked to do some sewing and this year was no different. 25 pairs if mouse ears. I hand stitched them on to little hair bands. Also the brightest orange waistcoats fot the two boys. 

I've finally finished my jumper I started back in November. Sorry no picture as I washed it and it's not dry yet.

My RAF brother came for a flying visit. He'd been on a course, at BAE at Samlesbury. He retires this year and is going to work for BAE systems out in Saudi for the next five years, so it was nice to see him and catch up.
I wonder what April will bring?  We will have to wait and see.

Have a great April

Carolx

R.I.P Professor Hawking

We are in danger of destroying ourselves 

by our greed and stupidity.

We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on 

a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet

Professor Stephen Hawking

 8 January 1942 - 14 March 2018

Half Term

Half term is almost over and we haven't done much. It's been so cold and wet we didn't want to venture out out doors unless we had to.
Laura spent Monday at her work experience and the following day working on an assignment she needs to hand in next week and Wednesday we had a movie day where we sat on the sofa and did nothing but kept warm and cosy. I went to craft club on Thursday morning whilst Laura cleaned out her fish tank. Some great news was announced at craft club - Our library that was closed last year is to reopen on 26 Feburary and craft club can rturn on the same day at the same time in the same old room. A lot of work has gone on at the library, walls have been painted, new solid front doors, new furnature and rearrangment of the lay out inside. I can't attend the official opening of the library as I'm at the dentist but I will call in afterwards.
What else have I done this week. Oh yes I finally got my car back yesterday. It's taken a month to fix it up after the collision last month. Because the door didn't shut properly rain got in and the drivers seat has a water stain on it. I mentioned this as I looked around and inspected the work done. The manager came out and said that they would get a proper valeter to clean it but can't arrange anything until Monday.
Yesterday I also had a man out to look at my washer, as that's broke down. I explained the problem and he had a look at it and said it was the starter motor and to get a new one it would cost £180. He advised that it wasn't worth spending that kind of money as he sold washers in his shop for £189. I took his advice and today we are going to find a new washer. 
So what else have I done since my last post. Well, about 20ish years ago I started to crochet a jacket, no ordinary jacket but an Irish crochet jacket. This year I decided that it will get finished. I have 1 full sleeve and the top of the other one to complete. I take it to craft club and manage to do about 2-3 rows. It's going to take a long time at this rate. At home I'm working on a purple jumper that I started before Christmas. All parts are knitted and need sewing together. It has a picot edge to the top, bottom and sleeves so before I stitch that down I'm sewing some beads onto each piont to make it more special. I will do a show and tell when It's complete.
I've also been doing some exam invigilating for the year 11 mocks. There is more next week and the week after. In a couple of months the GCSE's and A Levels start followed by the rest of the school's end of year exams.
I need to get a wriggle on as it's time I got breakfast and got myself ready for looking at washers.
Have a great weekend.

Carolx

Happy New Year

Everything is back to normal. laura has been back a college a week and feels she's never been away. She really didn't want to go in today as she's being assest on feeding a geko with live crickets.  Before Laura returned to college she had her last check up at the Children's hospital, Manchester.  We saw the specialist nurse who was well pleased with her recovery and her ex-rays were good. The nurse said she could lead a normal life with no restrictions (except for the ridgidity of her spine) and was discharged. One very happy girl. She still has a few problems with her muscles but very slowly the are getting better as they become strong again.

During the Christmas break I replaced my aging vehicle (Grand Vitara). I never really liked it when we got it but it was all I could afford at the time and it served it's purpose. My new, to me, car is a Renault Capture. It's smallish and so easy to drive and feels really nippy. Unfortunatly after having it for only 2 weeks a driver thought it was a good idea to overtake me when I was turning right (indicators on) onto a side road and we collided. Thankfully no-one was hurt. I've been given a very nice courtesy car, A Vauxhall Mokka, it has so many gadgets, heated seats and a heated steering wheel. I didn't know you could get heated steering wheels. I should get my Capture back sometime next week. The insurance company has to give the repair company permission to go ahead and fix it.

Martin is also looking for a replacement car for his taxi. Begining of December his car was written off by a drunk driver. Martin's night driver got a bump to his head and a broken finger and the passenger sustained a broken collar bone. The driver of the other vehicle had no injuries and a bit of damage to his car. He was 4x over the limit and has been fined £500 and banned from driving (can't remember for how long). Insurance have still to pay out but won't be long. Martin was off work for only a couple of days as now there is a taxi hire company, locally, so he's been able to continue to work.

The last three years have been pretty difficult and I figure we've had our lot so this year is a new year new start. Except for the bump things are looking ok. I want to be more organised and possibly find a new job. I'm not sure what I can do as my arthritis is still bad.
First on my agenda is to get a pension statement and forcast and go from there and whilst I decide what I want to do I'm going to do some heavy decluttering. I did some before Christmas but the house didn't look any different. I am lucky that, thanks to my dad, I have a safety net that will allow me the time to make the right decision. Laura will leave full time education this year and hopefully will find the job she really wants, this means we will lose her child benefit and the child tax credit. Although I do have the safety net I will continue to be frugal and try and find more ways to cut down on spending. I don't spend silly anyway but I'm sure I can find ways to cut down further.
Second thing on my adgenda is to be more positive and look forwards not backwards

Thank you reading and have a nice day.

Carolx

Scamming Season

 Last week I was almost caught by a scammer on email and I thought I would share my experience with you so that you too don't get caught out.

My friend was moving from a large 3 bedroomed house to a small 2 bedroom bungalow and as I sold a few things on a local selling site she asked me if I would list some of her things. This had gone very well up until last week.

All the adverts are maked "PICK UP ONLY" as I can't be doing with working out the postage and it's a local selling site anyway, also listed was my friends phone number and not my email address. I had listed some curtains and accessories for my friend and she had a text message asking to comunicate by email. Well her computer was all packed up so I did it for her. The buyer wanted to buy the curtains for her cousin but couldn't pick them up as she was in a wheelchair and had recently had a heart operation so would it be possible to post them. It was agreed and she would pay through paypal. My friend doesn't have an account (another reason for pick up only) so we used mine.
The payment email came through with £200 more than the asking price. I though this was rather strange. At the same time the buyer sent me another messages saying that she has arranged for a courier to come and pick up the parcel and the extra she had sent had to be paid in cash through instamoney/instacash/instapay or something like that, I can't remeber now. Anyway, I didn't like the sound of that. further down was some more details the name of the person to recieve the package and the country, Nigeria. No way no, no, no, no this sounded so wrong. I phoned my friend and said I didn't like it and felt very suspitious. After our chat I phoned PayPals and explained about the email. The very helpful chap I was speaking to told me, amongst other things, that they only send out emails that are addressed "Dear 1st name and 2nd name" and as mine was addessed "Hi email" I should just delete it and do nothing. Which is what I did.
Later in the day I was checking my emails and I had another from the buyer asking if I'd made made the payment yet and if not could I do it ASAP. My reply was - Nope. You're busted. See ya. And I've not heard anything else.

Scammers really prey on people at this time of year when they are busy working and doing a lot of shopping on line and waiting for parcels. In the past we have had cards put through the door. Looks like they're from the post office and you have to phone to arrange redelivery. It's not, and don't ring the number because as soon as you do you are charged £100's.

If you are aware of any other scams please share them here or on your blog to keep our readers safe.


Carolx

Best Laid Plans.....

I must apologise for being away so long but sometimes things just don't go to plan and there is nothing you can do about it. I planned to return to writing after the Christmas celebrations and now it's nearly the next ones.

The week before last Christmas my father-in-law, Tom, was rushed into hospital with abdominal pains that turned out to be a twisted gut. When the Dr finally made the decision to operate, just into the new year, it was too late his body had started to shut down and was given just a few days. Tom passed away peacefully with Margaret (his wife) and Linda (oldest daughter) at his bed side. He had a lovely funeral and wake afterwards and later in the afternoon the children were playing with paper aeroplanes made by some adults (I'm guilty, I made the first one). I feel Tom would have approved (he was a lovely man and loved all his family very much). At Christmas there is often a paper ball fight back and forth across the small living room and at their 60th wedding anniversary celebrations (at the same hotel as the wake) there were paper aeroplanes going up and down the table. The in-laws are a fun family and I'm very happy to be part of it.

Just a few week later my dad was having tests done. He'd not been feeling well for a while and although he had been seeing the Dr was not getting any better. About 2 weeks later after spending some time in hospital they finally diagnosed him with terminal stomach cancer. This was too much of a shock, for me, and hard to come to terms with although dad appeared to be ok with it.. Dad decided he wanted to come home so arrangements were made with care services, McMillan's (who were wonderfully supportive) and the district nurses (again very supportive). I was granted time off work (here's another story for later) and I looked after dad with the help of my sister-in-law, Sue. Long story short, 19 days after being diagnosed dad passed away. He knew he was slowly fading but was still determined to get better. He said he didn't have time to die he had too much to do and one thing he had to do was finish a clock he was making (Laura want's to finish the wooden clock in his honour) He kept his sense of humour right up to his last day. I have thanked Sue so many times for her support and help because without her I don't know how I'd have coped. She was my rock. Before I'd had time to process the news of his illness he was gone. Dad passed way after having seen all his family except my no2 brother, who was stationed in the Falkland's at the time, but we spoke over skype at his bedside.

Afterwards we had dad's bungalow to sort out. Both mum and dad were hoarders (nothing quite like what you see on the tv).When mum passed away, 2 years prior to dad, he hadn't done anything with her things. It took us months to sort everything and clear the house. We came across many childhood items, somethings from mum's mum and a few from dad's dad. (another story here too) and a few surprise discoveries. The bungalow finally sold 3 weeks ago and all funds distributed. Next I have the tax forms to fill in and arrange the scattering of the ashes of both mum and dad.

There have been some fun times in-between all the sadness. Laura wanted to arrange something special for Mothers Day, and with her dad's help she got some tickets to see the show "Bat Out Of Hell" in Manchester. It was absolutely brilliant and we all thorley enjoyed it.  It took our minds away from our current situation for a few hours. We had a late celebration for Martin's 60th birthday and we managed a few days away in the lakes. Recently we celebrated Laura's 18th birthday.

I will not leave it so long before my next post as now I'm starting to feel a bit stronger and able to cope with thing a bit better.

Carolx

P.S I'm not sure I like this new look I've picked. I feel it's a bit in your face. I think I'll look for something more gentle.

Lost My Mojo

I've decided that I need to take a break from writing but not reading. I think maybe the events of the past two year have caught up with me and I just need to take some time out for me to recharge my battries and find my mojo again.

I didn't take time out when my mum died because then things started to move on with Laura's operation that kept being moved back and my new job hunting had to be put on hold. Then Martin had his accident followed by Laura's operation.  
Laura is recovering well from her operation and doing her physio (now and again) and her college course is going well.
Martin is still experiencing  some back pain and stiffness (should still be doing his physio exercises)
Job hunting isn't going to well at the moment but I do still have a job for now.

Before I go, I would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Haapy New Year.          

                            Carolx

17

Laura is 17 today. Time is going just too fast. It only feels like yesterday we were celebrating her 16th birthday.

She is growing into a lovely young lady who knows what she wants and has the will power to strive for it.

She has no time for idiots but still knows how to enjoy herself.

Last year she had a bit of a rough time with studying for her GCSE's, cancelled operations, her friend moveing to a different school, it all go too much. But to see her so happy now and laughing more is wonderful.

She's enjoying college even though they're long days with an hours travel each way.

We and the rest of the family are wishing her a fantastic birthday.

Carolx

P.S.  It was a sad day yesterday as the library, as we know it, closed it's doors for the last time. I went in to see the ladies in the afternoon when I'd ,finished work, and found them drinking wine and eating cakes left over from the McMillan coffee morning. Some staff are taking redundancy but others have to apply for other jobs and are up against their friends for the same jobs and there are so few jobs. I feel so sorry for them.

Hunt The Picture

Joining in with Mum's picture scavenger hunt.

Beauty and Happiness

Year 6 Prom

Year 11 Prom

 Laura had fun at both proms and has grown into a beautiful young lady

Inspiration

 Martin's parents, married 54 years. This was taken at their 50th celebration do with their family

Tune and Passion

 Music is Laura's passion whether listening to it or dancing to it. She did an amzing job of decorating her bedroom bedroom in music

Wonder

 Wonder what cuddles thinks of the Jamaican Turkey. They do look rather cosy

Spectacle

Kite festival at Lytham, St Annes. Big ones, small one, in the sky, on the sand and everywhere in between

Sight

I love  Cleveleys beach especially in the summer. Picture is 

of  Mary's shell

Wink

 One of Laura's art projects for her GCSE and one she is most proud of

Arrangement

 Laura sorting my twiddle muff beads

That's my lot and I hope you enjoyed it. I enjoyed looking through my old photos stored on the computer

Closures In The Community

Lancashire County Council have to make a savings of £265m over the next five years due the central government cuts and these are some of their actions.

Closing 6 museums from 30 September 2016. These are:-

The Judges Lodgings - Lancaster
Maritime Museum - Fleetwood (Run by 1 paid staff and a few volunteers and only open in the summer)
Museum of Lancashire - Preston
Textile Museum - Burnley
Helmshore Museum - Rossendale

Organisations for four of the above museums have applied to take over the running  and the council is hoping negotiations will soon end with the view to make the transfers by the end of the year. But I don't know which ones they are and it still means that two will be gone forever.

Also on the list of closures are 2 Youth Centres (1 of which is in my area), the one and only Youth Offending Centre (in my area also), old people services and diabled services.

On top of that 14 Childrens Service (once know as Sure Start) one of which is in a raural area are to close. (Luckily our one is not closing) And 40 out 74 Libraries.  The buildings that are owned by the council will be sold off. So may job losses too.

So many organisations rely on voluteers so that they can continue delivering the sevices we need. I worry what will happen when people say enough is enough and people stop vlounteering.

My local library is affected by the closure, where I go to a craft and chat group and will close at the end of September. However there is a group who are negotiating a new proposal with the county council and local council in a bit to take over the library, run it with volunteers, and bring in other agencies who will contribute to the cost of running the building and the county council will give £5,000 towards the set up costs. I'm not sure if other areas are also considering this way forward too.

A number of years ago our police station closed and the building sold off. It was knocked down and a block of flats were built in its place. Then gradually the 3 banks move out.  All the while our village (almost the size of a town) has been expanding with more and more property being build on old farm land. (Currently only 2 working farms left in the area)  Even now there are plans in with the local council to build over a 1,000 homes (with strong objections) on some farm land close to a very congested road. There are only 2 roads out of Thornton and both are congested mornings and evening and as there are so few jobs so most people have to commute.

I wonder how other councils are affected in this way and how the residents are coping?

Carolx

Show Time

The other week-end it was our annual Flower, Art and Crafts Show. I did take loads of pictures on my tablet and they've all deleted themselves. This tablet has a mind of it's own and I can't use the main computer as that is so very slow since it came back from the menders. I realy think we need a new one but it wil have to wait.

Anyway back to the show.  In the past I've not entered many exhibits. It was a case of if I had done something I would enter it. However it was a different story when it came to Laura, she had many exhibits and came away with one, two or three trophies. But now she is too old for those catergaries and possibly too young for the adult sections due to her inexperience and with this in mind we decided to give this year a miss.

Two weeks before the show we changed our minds and we found 14 things, between us, that we could put into the show.  There was the painted canvas Laura did for her GCSE, some painted pebbles, that looked like cactus, in a pot, some baking, and some crocheting.

I won 1st for my crochet jacked and 2nd for my marmalade and that was it for me and Laura didn't win anything.
The chocolate cake wasn't chocolatey enough but was very light.
The victoria sponge, not sure what was wrong with that. I felt it could have been lighter.
Scones, well they were a disaster, very much like rock buns. Won't use that recipe again. Will stick to the Bero ones.
One of my jams was disqualified because I forgot to put on a wax disc. oops!

We want to knock Miss Winner (not real name) off the top. We have our work cut out but at least we have a year to practice.

Carolx

Results Day

Laura was up early today as she wanted to be at school for 9:30 to get her GCSE results. I dropped her off and waited in the car park. I had every confidence that she had done ok although she was anxious and worried that the results were not going to be good enough for the course she want's to do at collage.

Earlier in the year she'd had eight weeks off school recovering from her operation and was worried that it would have had some impact on her results. The year head had already told us that if Laura's exam results were not as good as she needed that they would contact the collage and explain the situation.

Anyway, back to this morning. She did really well and did much better than she anticipated.  2 A's, 3 B's and and 2 C's.  Two very proud parents (dab the soggy eyes). She has done so well despite the set backs. Tomorrow we are off to register her into college and then off to Preston do some collage shopping and have a nice lunch somewere.

Carolx

Lurking In The Freezer

Our chest freezer really needs defrosting so I've done an inventory of everyting in there in order to use things up. It would be easy to just get some boxes and pile everything in them and then put everything back, but it dosn't acheive much. So that's my mission. Last night for tea I used up a half jar of Tikka (from the feezer) and poured it over our pork chops (from the freezer) with rice.

In the bottom of the feezer was some fruit. 1st was some blood oranges from earlier

in the year. I love blood oranges so bought quite a few. Some to eat and some for (shredless) marmalade. I didn't have time to make the marmalade streight away so into the freezer they went until this week when I made three jars. I only have a small pan and we don't eat a lot.
Next I made some summer berries jelly jam  (another three and a bit jars) with bits of left over fruit like strawberries, blackberries from the field at the back of us, balckcurrents and red currents from the garden and yellow sticker raspberries from the super market. It takes forever to strain the fruit but it's worth it to get rid of the little seeds the will stick in our teeth.
I also made some lemon curd, not from the freezer this time.
You will see some of the jars have celephane tops and that is because I want to enter them into our annual Flower, Arts and Craft show next week.  I have a problem with them jars though. The celephane tops were sealing well until they were cold and now the tops are wrinkly. I don't know if the judges take this into concideration but I'm not happy. Is there a solution to it now or advice on how to prevent it happening next time? please.
The left over have been tried and tasted and are delicous. Fingers crossed.
Do you find that after making your own jam and you have to eat shop bought jam that is has so little flavour and is very sweet.

Carolx

Bubble and Squeak

I'm not making Bubble and Squeak but I would like to introduce you to our latest foster doggies. They are brothers and inseperable, where one goes the other has to follow, and are 31/2 years old. The boys are a cross between a pomsky and chihauhau.  These two are so funny when they play together chasing each other through the house to outside leaping over the door step as they go.  Turfing each other out of bed when playing a rough and tumble games.
Due to the pomsky in them they are very fluffy and malting like crazy and love lots of cuddles especially if you are wearing black.

Today they left us to go to a new foster home in Halifax as the charity we are connected with have too many dogs at the moment and need to move some on and these two little guys where part of the movement. I'm missing them already but they were not meant to be.

Carolx

Prom

Last night was Laura's prom.

Here she is stanging at the gates of Mains Hall at Singleton. She had a fantastic night and felt relaxed enough to dance most of the night. The theme was casino (in other words glamoures). All the girls but two were in long evening gowns that must have cost a fortune, but they did look lovely. Laura was one of the two who opted for a shorter dress. Her whole outfit including her hair all came to less than 100 pounds (pound sign dosn't work on this keyboard). Laura thoroughly enjoyed her night without parents.
and heres a family photo.
Carolx

PS. the computer went to the menders yesterday can't wait for it to come back I don't like this tablet for writing blogs.

Miniture

Sorry I've not been around for a while but you know how it is when you're just doing and enjoying what you're doing.

Here's what the painted plant pots became. It was for a competition that we didn't win. It was a joint effort. Laura did all the painting, Martin made the sails, I bought the posts, made the bunting and came up withe the idea with lots of input from Laura. At the moment it's sitting by the front door but will soon move into the back garden.

This past weekend we went for a little trip to the lakes. We ended up past Grange-Over-Sands on the way to Flookburgh to visit the Lakeland Miniature Village and Oriental  Garden. We took lots of pictures but they're on the main computer and it's not internet freindly at the moment (need to go to the menders) and so  I'm writing this on my tablet. Here's the link though, hope it works, www.lakelandminiaturevillage.co.uk.  The village is set up in the back garden of the builder, Edward Robinson and his wife. You walk up the drive and ring the bell and pay a small entrance fee and follow the path round to the back and be prepared to be truely amazed. It really was a miniature village with all kinds of buildings depicting cumbria's old houses and farms all built of slate and stone with wonkey slate roofs. There are over 100 incredible buildings some famous and some very old hence the wonkey roofs. One of the fams has animals for children to play with.
It has taken over 23 years for Edward to create these small buildings mostly from memory and some from photos. I'm in awe of his wonderous careative talent. It makes Blackpools minature village look shabby and dull in comparison.
As we arrived Edward was working on a larger construction of a bridge which has been commissioned by Hayes garden centre at Windermere.
The oriental garden was good but not as impressive as the village but in all well worth a visit if you get the chance.

Carolx